Portrait of a Man

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Artist: Tanzio da Varallo (Italian, 1575–1635)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: Unframed: 97.8 x 72.2 cm (38 1/2 x 28 7/16 in.)
Culture: Italy
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This portrait of an unknown man includes a detailed representation of a rapier, a sword worn with civilian dress and used in duels. On the basis of style, the rapier in this painting belonged to a distinctive group of sword hilts decorated between about 1570 and 1600. It was probably made in northern Italy.The son of a Piedmontese architect, Tanzio spent most of his life in northern Italy, but worked briefly in Rome and southern Italy, mainly Naples. These trips brought him under the influence of Caravaggio, whose dramatic realism Tanzio integrated into his own elegant, decorative style.